Angry Birds Peace Treaty

This is just too funny to not blog about. Angry Birds is a fun game and the birds are insanely cute. They're even more hilarious in live-action.

End the senseless conflict!

Let Me In

I've never been much of a fan of horror movies, since most of them are gratuitous gore-fests anyway and not really scary  in any meaningful way. Once in a while though, there comes a movie that transcends the common slasher/monster/evil creature flick and shows us that the horror genre is still very much alive, or at the very least undead.

Vampires are all the rage these days, with the Twilight saga (ugh), True Blood (excellent), and The Vampire Diaries (blah) et. al. creating a resurgence of interest in the bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Based on the Swedish novel and film Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In), Let Me In is a near-flawless execution of a very unusual sort of vampire love story. Set in the 1980s, this is a classic tale of young love not unlike Romeo and Juliet - if Juliet was a vampire.


***Moderate spoiler alert***




The opening scene begins with a man being rushed to the hospital. We hear over the dispatch radio that the man has been in a car crash and is a suspect in a criminal case. He is also horribly disfigured on his face and hands due to an apparently self-inflicted dousing with strong acid. The local detective later tries to get him to reveal his identity but he refuses. Called away to a phone call, the detective returns to find that the man has leaped out the window to his death, leaving behind an enigmatic note.

Cue the flashback: Three weeks ago (I think).


A young boy sits alone munching candy on a snow-covered jungle gym in a small quad surrounded by modest houses. His mother calls to him to come to dinner. We see during dinner and afterwards that the boy is struggling with a broken home, his parents' divorced or separated. An absent father, an alcoholic mother, and daily harrassment by bullies at school make for a very unhappy boy indeed.

One night, while spying on the neighbours, he sees new neighbours moving in - a young girl about his age and a middle-aged man. Something seems off about this odd couple. The girl seems in charge somehow and she walks barefoot through the snow. The next night, after more torture at the hands of bullies, the boy purchases a knife and fantasizes about stabbing his nemesis, using a tree as a stand-in. The girl is suddenly there, on the jungle gym, interrupting his reverie. She introduces herself as Abby (Chloe Moretz), and he in turn introduces himself as Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Like Owen, Abby says she is 12 years old (more or less, she qualifies). Despite her insistence that they "cannot be friends", she nevertheless comes to the quad each night and a relationship blossoms. She reveals precious little about herself but seems to care for Owen as much as he does for her. She encourages him to stand up to the bullies, even offering to help if need be, much to Owen's amusement.

Meanwhile, a series of gruesome murders are occuring in the small town, the victims exsanguinated. Abby's 'father' (Richard Jenkins) is seen methodically stalking and murdering a young man in his car, collecting blood in a large container. It's quite obvious that he and Abby are harbouring a bit of a secret. After his latest attempted murder is botched and the flashback merges into the present, we see the identity of the disfigured man and what happened to him. As the detective closes in, Abby and Owen continue to develop their relationship and when Owen learns that Abby is more than she seems, he must choose to either sever his only meaningful relationship or continue along a path doomed to end badly.

The cinematography presents the world as a cold, sad place. The use of muted colours and harsh incandescent lighting makes for a sombre atmosphere well-suited to the subject matter. Matt Reeves, the director of Cloverfield, helms this movie in another genre-bending effort. Seeing the events march to their inevitable conclusion engages the audience closely, with just the right pacing and mixture of light and heavy moments. While there is very strong violence and gore, it is always used in the service of the plot and is never gratuitous.

Much credit must be given to the two leads. Despite their tender years, they deliver startlingly powerful performances. The chemistry seems genuine and natural, their love story sweet in its way (apart from the murders and what-not). Their scenes are at once touching, fascinating, and a little scary. Moretz (who was great in Kick-Ass) plays Abby with a quiet sadness, saying more with her expressions than her words. Unlike her character in Kick-Ass, there is no glee in Abby when she takes lives as she does it out of a necessity to survive. Smit-McPhee (The Road, Romulus, My Father) is also very effective as Owen, playing the sweet but lonely boy looking for attachment in a world that seems set against him. These very believable performances elevate the film to far greater heights than it would have reached with a lesser cast.

I highly recommend this movie for anyone who likes vampires, love stories (sorta), or just a good movie. Someday, I must watch the original Swedish version.

Unstoppable

Still hot off the tracks of  The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 comes another Tony Scott train movie featuring Denzel Washington. This time, Washington takes the role of Frank, a 28-year veteran of the railroad industry. Partnered for the first time with a new and young conductor, Will (Chris Pine), Frank goes out on a routine job bringing in a train to the depot. Meanwhile, a shocking show of negligence from engineer Dewey (Ethan Suplee) results in freight train 777 going unmanned onto the main track at full throttle with no air brakes. In addition to being 'as tall as the Chrysler building', the train is also carrying several tanks of highly volatile molten phenol. Combined with the diesel fuel on board, the train makes for a nice town-levelling guided missile headed to heavily-populated Stanton. Other niceties include a train full of schoolchildren out on an excursion and collision course with 777.

Frank and Will do a little male-bonding where we learn that Frank's wife is deceased and he has two college-bound daughters living in Stanton. We also learn of Will's estranged relationship with his wife which has resulted in a restraining order against him. After learning of and avoiding the runaway train, Frank and Will decide to stop it themselves by chasing it down, attaching to it, and braking it in reverse with their own engine.

Despite opposition by train company VP Galvin (Kevin Dunn) who has made two botched attempts to stop and then derail the train, yardmaster Connie (Rosario Dawson) supports Frank and Will's plan. A chase on rails ensues and when they finally catch up, the hard part really begins.

Like the titular freight train, the movie builds up its momentum slowly into an unstoppable juggernaut. The tension builds and becomes more and more urgent as the train nears its final destination. The cinematography conveys a sense of the unyielding nature of the train as it thunders ominously along. Tony Scott certainly knows his trains! The action scenes are very well-crafted and demands the attention of the audience, growing more and more spectacular towards the end. The two leads turn in convincing performances within the confines of the script. The character development is kept to a minimum as to not detract from the main action, but the relationship develops naturally and believably. The supporting characters do their jobs and the train company is painted as a soulless corporation whose CEO considers only cash loss and stock devaluation in making possibly life-threatening decisions before returning to his golf game.

Based on true events (which I'm sure were much less dramatic), this is probably one of the best potential train-wreck movies you'll ever see.

Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage

I started writing this review like a month ago, but never finished... better late than never...

Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage is yet another 3D animation not produced by the two major studios. This time, the film is produced by the Belgian StudioCanal. It's in English though, and uses American actors for voice work. It tells the tale of the early years of a turtle named Sammy. His birth and initial trek from the nest to the sea is fraught with drama including being snatched by a bird. He does however encounter a female named Shelly whom he instantly falls in love with but they are separated.

Once in the sea, he eventually meets another turtle named Ray and they become lifelong friends. The rest of the movie focuses on their travels around the world and their eventual separation. Alone, Sammy encounters ships, humans, and a devious cat. He also makes friends with other turtles and meets Shelly and Ray again.

The movie has fairly obvious environmental undercurrents, starting in 1959. It's never really preachy but shows what it might be like from an unknowing animal's point of view to see the slow pollution of the oceans by human activities. A pleasant enough movie if not entirely original, it's certainly no Finding Nemo. It does however have cute characters (the cat was especially amusing), pleasant colours, and a bit of that animation magic often absent in many animation efforts like the recent Legend of the Guardians which had good animation but no heart.

The 3D effects were very apparent in this movie and it is clear that it was not only added as an afterthought. So here's to more good animations. Personally I look forward to it.

Catch-up Post: Movies

I've been feeling really lazy to write blog entries lately. If I were the blaming sort, I'd say it was a combination of writer's block and too much Starcraft 2 and then too much Plants vs. Zombies (both awesome games BTW). Aaaaaanyway, to get into the spirit of writing once more, I present three short reviews of some of the movies I watched recently.

RED

The trailer for this movie looked fun and it wasn't false advertising. Featuring an ensemble cast of familiar names headed by Bruce Willis as Frank Moses, the movie has humour and action and while not a great film by most standards, it's a good bit of harmless fun.

Frank is a retired CIA agent living quietly at home, flirting with a pensions department employee Sarah  (Mary-Louise Parker) by constantly tearing up his cheques and claiming they never arrived. Sarah dreams of travel and adventure and her wish comes true one day when Frank shows up at her apartment after having survived an assassination attempt by some old enemies. Suspecting a deeper conspiracy, Frank kidnaps Sarah to protect her being chased down by a CIA assassin, William Cooper (Karl Urban) who does not know why he has been tasked to kill an ex-CIA agent but follows orders like a good little assassin. Frank enlists the help of aged former intelligence agents like himself including former partner Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), the slightly crazy Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), ex-MI5 agent Victoria (Helen Mirren), and Russian agent Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox). The group embarks on a quest to clear Frank's name and discover the conspiracy to kill him.

The action sequences are well executed and it's nice to see Bruce Willis can still do an action movie although with less energy than usual. The supporting cast are suitably amusing as well. The plot involving an arms dealer and the Vice President is muddled at best so, don't go into this movie expecting a strong plot and good storytelling.


Buried

Buried presents a familiar premise - being buried alive - but distills it to its purest form in a surprisingly good thriller. The movie opens in total darkness and silence for a good minute, prompting the audience to suspect if there has been a projector malfunction. Then some breathing is heard for some time. Then finally a lighter flickers to life and we are introduced to Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds). Finding himself in a small wooden box, Paul rails against the small space, screams, and tried to claw his way out but to no avail. Calming down, he finds a functioning cellphone and tries to call for help. Meeting with the most unhelpful people ever, he grows increasingly frustrated. Eventually he gets a call from his kidnapper who demands ransom for his release. Paul tries to negotiate with the kidnapper and the embassy representative he eventually gets in contact with. As the audience learns bits and pieces of information concerning Paul's circumstances and life, time is running out for Paul.

With admirable realism, no other characters are seen apart from Paul, with the others only heard as voices on the telephone. Such a minimalist film requires a strong performance from the actor and Ryan Reynolds delivers this in spades. Formerly of sitcom Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place and mostly seen in romantic comedies and the recent Wolverine movie, this role may spark off a promising career as a more dramatic actor.

As much an experience as it is a movie,  Buried succeeds greatly in conveying a claustrophobic feeling to make the audience feel Paul's discomfort. Despite taking place in a box, there are thrills to be found and never feels boring. One small gripe concerns the appearance of a snake. I imagine it must have been thinking Oh hey a box! I will explore it! An attempt to inject extra drama perhaps, but I found it a little awkward. Still, apart from that one little flaw, Buried is a fine piece of film-making and should be seen (unless you're claustrophobic).


The American

Falsely marketed as an action thriller, The American is in reality an art-housey film starring George Clooney as 'Jack', a mysterious assassin-ish man on the run from other mysterious assassins. The opening set on a snowy backdrop is promising enough and features a shocking act of violence. The rest of the movie is much less shocking, unless you count being shockingly boring.

After the initial encounter with the Swedish assassins, Jack goes on the run to a tiny town in Italy on the advice of his handler Pavel (Johan Leysen). Posing as a photographer, Jack gets a job from a mysterious woman named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) to produce a gun to her exacting specifications. While slowly realising the weapon, Jack carries on a romantic relationship of sorts with local prostitute Clara (Violante Placido) and a friendship of sorts with local priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli). During all this, the Swedish assassins start to catch up with him.

George Clooney turns in a technically strong performance as a weary assassin desperately struggling to find love and attachment and looking for a way out of his chosen path in life. Nothing is revealed about the plot and the motivations of Mathilde and Pavel or even the Swedish assassins. Nothing is revealed about Jack's background either. The movies trudges on at an incredibly slow pace and lingers on scenes for long silent periods. I could have forgiven all this as an artistic film if the ending had made any sense whatsoever. Many critics have reviewed this film positively but I can't say I share their enthusiasm despite the technically good film techniques and lovely cinematography.

I was strongly reminded of the similarly-themed In Bruges which also featured assassins hiding out in a small European town. Unlike this one however, that movie contained an actual plot and an ending that made sense. It was even kinda funny. I strongly recommend staying away from this movie unless you really really like George Clooney or you've got insomnia.